“ The owner of a coffee shop sat diminished in the back of his deserted establishment, waiting for patronage that had long since vanished. Barry Eisler
“ The essence of samurai is not just service, but loyalty to his master, to a cause greater than himself. Barry Eisler
“ Strangeland’s confidence in her, the risks she was willing to run . . . it was all producing a roiling mess of emotion she couldn’t deal with right now. She managed to push it away and handed Barry Eisler
“ She’d always assumed that what she kept buried down deep was imperceptible to the people around her. But she hadn’t ever pressure checked the notion the way it might be pressure checked now. Barry Eisler
“ She winced. I’m glad you came. I didn’t know what to make of the inconsistency between her reaction and her words. You must have a lot of questions, I said. She shook her head. I just want to make sur… Barry Eisler
“ Seriously protecting yourself calls for the annihilation of ties with society, ties that most people need the way they need oxygen. Barry Eisler
“ My mother would have wanted me to say a prayer, crossing myself at its conclusion, and had this been her grave, I would have done so. But such a western ritual would have been an insult to my father i… Barry Eisler
“ Karate moved slowly through the lobby. His gaze went to Belghazi and his eyes hardened in a way that would mean nothing to most people but that meant a great deal to me. From this gaze I understood Ka… Barry Eisler
“ I told myself it was all right, I wasn’t disappointed, it was better this way. I wondered in a detached way whether it was all part of some cosmic punishment for Crazy Jake, the blood brother I had ki… Barry Eisler
“ I thought of how Midori had once articulated the idea of mono no aware, a sensibility that, though frequently obscured during cherry blossom viewing by the cacophony of drunken doggerel and generator-… Barry Eisler
“ I picked up the earthen cup and went to take a sip. Not like that, Miyamoto said. Let it cool a little. Give yourself a moment to appreciate the aroma, the feel of the bowl in your hands. I was a litt… Barry Eisler
“ I headed back to Shun Tak to catch the next ferry to Macau. I tried not to think too much about what I was about to do. Charging an ambush is counterinstinctive: when your lizard brain identifies the… Barry Eisler
“ His eyes were still on me, but they no longer perceived. I stepped back, out of their sightless ambit, and paused to observe the scene. It looked like what it almost was: a weightlifting addict, alone… Barry Eisler
“ He glanced to his left, which for most people is a neurolinguistic sign of recall rather than of construction. Had he looked in the opposite direction, I would have read it as a lie. Barry Eisler
“ And maybe on some level his approach was manipulative, but what mattered most was the way it made her feel. Like he understood her, without ever having to be heavy-handed about it. Barry Eisler
“ And I resented you for that, she went on, because I’ve always believed hate is such an unworthy emotion. So weak and ultimately pointless. I marveled briefly at how innocent a life someone would have… Barry Eisler
“ After about fifteen minutes he walked over to me. Randori? he asked, in a tone that was more a challenge than an invitation. I nodded, averting my eyes from his hard stare. In my mind, our contest was… Barry Eisler
